They say that using mobile phones to track COVID-19 cases may breach data privacy because the information collected using smartphones can be used for other purposes apart from the initial one. The author agrees that data captured from the smartphone through geofencing has previously been used during crime investigations without privacy infringement. They say surveillance can be used to track people who came into contact with the COVID-19 victim. Others say that using smartphone data to track the virus is needed, but he (the author) also disagrees by saying it can be an infringement on the privacy of Americans because the data collected can be used for other purposes down the road (Fussell, 2020). The WHO also agree that it is appropriate to use a smartphone to track the movement of those suspected to have COVID-19 (The Privacy International, n.d.). However, Palmer (2020); Shekhar & Shekhar, (2020), agrees that COVID-19 smartphone tracking app will not invade data privacy.
